Community Impact:

Our netball program continues to provide significant benefits to the local community by promoting increased participation in physical activity, and encouraging of a sense of ‘community spirit' through volunteer involvement. From these prime outcomes come many secondary benefits.

Health Benefits:

Significant health benefits result from increased participation in physical activity including osteoporosis prevention, weight control, general fitness, managing depression, prevention of diabetes and heart disease. We have a strong commitment to promoting women's health through sport.

Youth Involvement:

The majority of our participants are children and adolescents who may otherwise be elsewhere, participating in less favourable activities. Many have forged close friendships within the Association and will spend their entire Saturdays at the courts umpiring, coaching, playing and simply socialising. Whilst our older, experienced members are may be our strength, our young members are our future.

Family Involvement:

We have many situations of entire families being involved for the day in our netball program - fathers included. Many parents are keen to take on the role of their daughters' team coach, team manager or team umpire. Many parents also play themselves in the open section of the competition and we often see situations where a daughter is umpiring her mother's match or mothers and daughters playing alongside each other in a team. Our management committee and project workers are mostly professional women with children involved and are all actively involved themselves as players, umpires and coaches.

School Involvement:

Many of our member clubs and individual teams are school based and can complement the school sport programs. Large school clubs include MLC, Genazzano, MGGS, Ruyton, Camberwell GGS, Fintona, Chatham and Mont Albert. Other individual teams come from schools such as Canterbury, Kew, Camberwell, Surrey Hills, Auburn, Balwyn Primary Schools; Balwyn High, OHR, OLGC, Sacred Heart, Carey, St Bedes, Lauriston and many others.

Women's Involvement:

Whilst the vast majority of our participants are girls and women, our program is open to male members also. Nevertheless the provision of programs and facilities primarily for women does help to relieve the gender bias often seen in the area of sport and recreation.

Other Community groups:

‘Partnerships' with other organisations assist in promoting their messages and also allow us to utilise their expertise to provide a safe and responsible program. Examples include the Vic Health Sun Smart Policy; Smartplay, a sports injury prevention program by Vic Health and Sports Medicine Australia; the Jean Hailes Foundation for Women's Health; Osteoporosis Victoria; Cancer Council - breast and ovarian cancer fund raising.